Career Options For A Psychology Student

Many students are looking for a career in the stream of psychology. Psychology is intriguing to many, but has been in the dark for a long time.

People have perceived psychology as ‘being among mad people’, rather than the study of a person’s mind and behavior. Today, it has grown to be a branch of studies in itself with various opportunities up for grabs.

So, how and where does one start off in this stream? Psychology is a subject which one can take up in their class 11, either in the science or the arts stream. Let us take a look at the opportunities available in both the streams.

1. Science – in this stream, students can take up biology as a subject to help them venture out into psychology. After completing Class 12, one can either take up a professional course or continue with the graduate course, both which has opportunities in various areas of psychology. Students who take up medicine are able to prescribe medicines to anyone who might need it and the one who takes up the graduate course will not be able to prescribe any medicines, but be able to help the other person by listening and giving suggestions to doctors.

2. Arts – this is a very versatile stream. Students have an opportunity to be experimental in this stream and as such have been accepted widely by many students of the new era. Students of the science stream who wish to take up psychology in their graduate course can move over to arts stream and study psychology.

There are many opportunities which are available to one. Here are some:

1. Clinical psychologists – these people work in counseling centers, hospitals and clinics and help mentally disturbed people lead a normal life. Health psychology, neuro psychology and gero psychology are the various areas of specialization in this stream.

2. Counseling psychologists – counseling is helping people cope with decision making on coping with specific situations. We come across people who have emotional and personal problems and need help with the same. A counselor helps such people to deal with their problems and bring out the positive side of them.

3. Social psychologists – those who qualify as social psychologists work with social organizations and institutes in research, system design and other fields of psychology.

4. Educational psychologists – we come across people who help us in schools and colleges and co-ordinate with parents, teachers and the management to resolve student behavior and learning problems. They are known as educational psychologists.

5. Developmental psychologists – psychologists who have an interest to understand a person’s development through the various phases of their life are known as developmental psychologists.

Psychology is an interesting subject of study, which helps us understand a person’s behavior and mind through various perspectives. Making it a career choice is the dream of many, but are limited by the most often sought after courses.

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Counseling Psychology

The premise of counseling psychology is the human mind; the latter’s unlimited ability to comprehend the world around it in an equally infinite number of perspectives. In that respect, counseling psychology is a very recent development, but it has quickly grown out of its mould to encompass wide-ranging aspects of personal as well as interpersonal functioning of an individual with respect to his or her immediate societal setup.

Counseling Psychology vs. General Counseling Practices

As opposed to general counseling practices taken up in Christian and other theological organizations, counseling psychology is well defined in its approach, methods and manner of analysis, thus paying more attention to normative and absolute scientific procedures. Typically, it defines the pillars of professionalism:

Such a person should have extensive post-graduate education in the field of counseling psychology from a recognized university.

He or she should have to education to conduct research, evaluations and therefore know how to implement the same into therapeutic procedures for helping clients.

He or she should be certified or licensed to practice by either the state or a central certification body.

As such, the word ‘Psychologist’ is a legally protected term that is reserved only for individuals who have a doctor degree in a field of Psychology.

What Do Counseling Psychologists Do?

Counseling Psychologists are engaged in the any of the following areas where they put their education into practice and as a result offer their contribution while earning their salary:

Psychotherapy and Counseling

Here, a counseling psychologist can be employed in a varying number of organizations with wide-ranging responsibilities specific to the organization. Prime among them are counseling and clinical centers, Hospitals, VA’s, EAP (Employee Assistance Program), prisons, military and other government agencies.

Teaching

Often, individuals with counseling psychology degrees enroll into professional schools, colleges and universities, as teachers and counseling experts. Some with an M.A. degree might also going into teaching in community colleges.

Research And Publishing

A lot of counseling graduates can take up posts in higher educational organizations, hospitals and professional organizations like the APA to further the research in their specific field of specialization.

Consulting

Private consulting is another area that sees the inflow of counseling psychologists year after year. These professionals can offer their expertise to different industries or businesses, larger consulting firms (such as RHR) or even take up private practice or executive coaching as a profession.

Administration

Owing to the high degree of knowledge about interpersonal dynamics relating to individuals in an organizational setup, administrative posts are open for those with the right counseling psychology degree and license to ply their trade in community mental health institutions, hospitals, VA’s, Professional organizations, NGO’s and government organizations as well as educational institutions such as schools and universities.

Degrees In Clinical Psychology

Here are the different educational paths that you could take up in your quest to become a counseling psychologist, with a brief description of what they entail.

Master of Science (M.S.) Or master Of Arts (M.A.)

This includes 2 years of study, culminating in the completion of a Thesis. Often students with the desire of a Ph.D. take this route. Apart from that, a Masters degree, with the right certification courses can qualify you for professions such as teaching in community colleges or overseeing clients as a supervisor in a health facility. Read more about Counseling Psychology Masters Program.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

This course of study basically focuses on the scientist-practitioner Model, otherwise known as the Boulder Model. It is a 3-year course work, and takes an additional year for dissertation and a year of internship in an APA approved environment, thus totaling to 5 years of study and research. Public and private organizations accept only those university degree programs that are approved by the APA. Read more about Counseling Psychology PhD Programs.

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D)

Pronounced as ‘sigh-dee’, a Psy.D program is not research driven and do not generally take dissertation as a compulsory completion requirement as with Ph.D. degrees. This is typically a 4-6 year course, which includes a year of internship too. It focuses on the applied aspect of the discipline or the Professional Model (Vail Model) to be exact. The course work is offered in professional schools. Read more about Counseling Psychology Doctoral Programs

Counseling Psychology As A Mental Health Profession (MHP)

Counseling psychology is an integral part of MHP (Mental Health Professions), a categorization, which envelops the following disciplines too:

Clinical Neuropsychology

Educational Psychology

Rehabilitation Psychology

Community Psychology

Forensic Psychology

IO (Industrial/Organizational) Psychology

Social Work

Marriage, Family and Child Counseling (MFCC) and

Psychiatry

Visit MentalHelp.net to get a better understanding of MHP, and its associative professions. It offers an accurate and in depth analysis of each of these disciplines. MHPs differ in terms of their specialties in that each discipline requires a different type of education, training, licensing, and therefore, happens to have varying pay as well as prestige levels.

Now, counseling psychology takes the best of most MHP into its account and offers a therapeutic solution to the everyday challenges faced by adults mainly, be it in the field of work, personal space, or interpersonal relationships.

As such, the career opportunities presented by counseling psychology are immense to say to least. Click here to see what the 2008-2010 analysis of US Statistics concerning MHP has to say about counseling psychology.